Bhubaneswar, March 26: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced that his government will set up the largest COVID-19 hospital in the country, which will be a 1000 bed hospital. He also claimed that the hospital will be functional in a fortnight to combat with coronavirus. With this new announcement, Odisha will become the first state to set up such a large scale hospital exclusively to treat COVID-19 patients.

As per to the details pouring in, the Naveen Patnaik-led state government is planning to set up largest COVID-19 hospital in the country, which will be a 1000 bed hospital. To speed up the process, a tripartite agreement was signed between government of Odisha, corporates, and medical colleges to set up a 1000 bed, exclusive COVID-19 treatment hospital. Coronavirus Death Toll Rises to 17 in India As Two COVID-19 Patients Die in Karnataka & Rajasthan.

Apart from this, the state government is also planning to set up a COVID-19 testing labortory at a hospital in Sambalpur district. This action has been taken to ease the burden on the state's only other such facility at Bhubaneswar. A Times of India report claimed that the modalities are being out of setting up a BioSafety Levels 2 (BSL 2) laboratory at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR).

Meanwhile, a 73-year-old man who tested positive for coronavirus died due to co-morbidity in Bhilwara in Rajasthan on Thursday, thus taking the death toll of the country to 17. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that total number of coronavirus cases climbed to 649 in India on Thursday.The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 593, while 42 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 26, 2020 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).